Lottery games have become popular in many jurisdictions in the United States and elsewhere. Lottery games are played with a set (sometimes referred to as a game set) of predefined tickets or game play records that are each associated with a particular result in the game. Some of the predefined tickets or game play records are each associated with a respective winning result and thus represent winning tickets/game play records. Other predefined tickets or game play records in the game set are each associated with a respective losing result and thus represent losing tickets/game play records. Since the set of tickets or game play records making up a lottery game has a predefined number of tickets or game play records and predefined number of winning and losing tickets/records, the set has a predefined payout to players and predefined hold for the game operator. That is, assuming that all tickets or game play records in the game set are sold, both the cumulative payout to the players and the cumulative value in from ticket or game play record sales are known.
Traditional lottery games are played with a paper lottery ticket. These paper lottery tickets are commonly printed with graphics consistent with a theme of the game. The printed material for each respective ticket includes some result indicator that is correlated to, or indicates, the result associated with the respective ticket. These result indicators are commonly covered or obscured at the time the ticket is sold. Once the player obtains the ticket, he or she may remove the cover or obscuring material to reveal the result indicator and thus the result associated with the ticket.
The paper tickets in a traditional lottery game are commonly produced at some manufacturing facility in books of tickets, each made up of a continuous roll of individual tickets or a continuous fan fold stack of individual tickets with the individual tickets separated by perforations or break lines. Typically, a lottery game set will include a very large number of tickets, and the ticket books produced at the manufacturing facility each include only a fraction of the total tickets that make up a complete lottery game. The tickets are randomly ordered in the ticket books and are sold and distributed sequentially from the randomized book of tickets so that the results in the lottery game are distributed to players in a random order unknown to the players or ticket sellers.
Lottery games have been implemented in electronic form in which each ticket is represented by an electronic data structure rather than a physical paper ticket. An electronic data structure correlating to a respective chance in a lottery-type game will be referred to further in this disclosure and accompanying claims as a “game play record.” These game play records may take on a number of different forms. On one end of the spectrum, each game play record includes a result indicator, record identifier, and data that defines graphics that are used to display the result of the game play record to the player. At the other end of the spectrum, each game play record may include only a result indicator, and perhaps a record identifier, a table identifier, and a prize value. Regardless of the particular form of data structure used for the individual game play records, the game play records are commonly grouped in data files analogous to books of paper tickets and distributed in some random order from the file. Since the game play records are arranged in data files, the random distribution may be performed by randomizing the order of game play records in the respective data file and then distributing the game play records sequentially in that random order, or the game play records can be ordered in the data files and distributed randomly from the files.
The electronic lottery games may be implemented with a gaming system that includes a central processing system for storing different files that each contain some number of game play records and are analogous to books of physical lottery tickets. The central processing system distributes either individual game play records or game play record files to player stations which are in communication with the central processing system. In some cases, an intermediate component may receive game play record files from the central processing system and then communicate game play records to the player stations. The player stations include a display device for displaying information to the player, an arrangement for accepting wagers, an arrangement for receiving inputs from the player, and in some cases, an arrangement for storing game play record files containing some number of individual game play records. In this example electronic lottery system, a player enters the lottery game by making a game play request at a player station. In response to a game play request entered by the player, either the central processing system or an intermediate component (or the player station itself where the player station stores game play record files) assigns a particular game play record for the game play request. Where the central processing system or intermediate component is responsible for assigning individual game play records for game play requests, the central processing system or intermediate component also communicates to the player station either the assigned game play record or result information from the assigned game play record. Regardless of which system component is responsible for assigning the game play record for a given game play request, the player station ultimately displays the result associated with the game play record assigned to the player.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,606 to Riendeau et al. discloses a lottery-type gaming system in which electronic lottery game play records are created for a game and divided into two batches, with each batch being further divided into a distribution portion and an exchange pool. Groups of electronic game play records referred to as “packs” are then defined from the distribution portions and downloaded to distribution terminals. Each distribution terminal uses its respective packs of electronic game play records for satisfying game play requests entered at that terminal. At the end of some accounting period at a respective distribution terminal, information on game play records remaining unused at the distribution terminal is communicated back to a central processing system. The unused game play records are then collected with the respective exchange pool of undistributed game play records. Game play records from the exchange pool and unused but previously distributed game play records are then used to make additional distribution packs of game play records that are downloaded to distribution terminals for use in satisfying game play requests in some subsequent accounting period. Once there are not enough electronic game play records in the exchange pool to create another day's distribution portion from which the “packs” are created, the game is closed and final statistics are generated showing tickets sold, tickets remaining, pay-outs, etc.
It will be noted that where all of the lottery tickets/game play records for a lottery game are not sold, the results of the game will differ from the intended design of the game. That is, the total sales for the game will be lower than the total designed for the game. The total hold and payout may be higher or lower depending upon the results associated with the unused lottery tickets/game play records. Although the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,606 effectively reuses previously distributed game play records, the system still closes a game before all lottery game play records are used, thus causing the overall results of the lottery game to vary from the lottery game design.